Five people were charged Wednesday with conspiring to bribe a juror in Minnesota with $120,000 in cash. The juror was on one of the biggest fraud cases involving U.S. COVID-19 relief programs, in which over $250 million was taken.
In April, seven people went to trial after being accused of participating in a scheme to steal $40 million from a federal COVID-19 program meant to provide food for children. The defendants have been linked to the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which received funds from the federal program. A total of 70 defendants have been charged so far in the fraud scheme centering on the nonprofit, with five convicted and 18 pleading guilty. Of the over $250 million in federal funds taken, only $50 million have been recovered.
The five defendants in the current case were indicted for trying to bribe a juror in the Feeding Our Future case, in exchange for a not-guilty decision in the trial, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota.
The suspects decided to target “Juror 52” because she was the youngest one and they believed she was “the only juror of color,” the indictment reads. They searched online to find the juror’s name and address, and surveilled her to confirm the address and learn about her daily habits. According to the indictment, one of the defendants followed the juror home, and purchased a GPS tracking device to put on her car to track her movements.
The suspects prepared $200,000 for the bribe and gave a list of instructions to the juror. In addition to voting not guilty on all counts for all the defendants, they also wanted her to convince the other jurors to vote not guilty and made a list of “arguments to convince other jurors.”
Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, Said Shafii Farah, Abdulkarim Shafii Farah, and Ladan Mohamed Ali have been charged with conspiracy to bribe a juror, bribery of a juror, and corruptly influencing a juror, according to the indictment.
Abdiaziz Farah was also charged with obstruction of justice.
Abdiaziz Farah and Abdimajid Mohamed Nur were among five convicted in the fraud trial for stealing through the COVID-19 program earlier this month while Said Shafii Farah was acquitted. Abdulkarim Shafii Farah and Ladan Mohamed Ali were not involved.
The plan to bribe the juror was hatched in mid-May, according to the indictment, and the money was delivered to the juror’s home on June 2. One of the defendants handed the bag with the money to a relative of the juror and said there would be more money if the juror voted to acquit. The juror reported the bribe attempt to the police.
On June 3, after being ordered by U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel to surrender their phone to law enforcement, Abdiaziz Farah factory reset his phone to erase the text messages, video, and other evidence of the bribe attempt, the indictment said.
Abdiaziz Farah, Said Farah, and Abdulkarim Farah made their initial appearances in federal court Wednesday afternoon. A defense attorney who represented them at the hearing declined to comment afterward.
All three men requested representation from the Office of the Federal Defender, a request prosecutors objected to, citing the defendants’ alleged access to money parked abroad. Abdiaziz Farah sent millions in stolen money to Kenya and elsewhere in East Africa, prosecutors said. That money was used to purchase and construct a 12-story apartment building in Nairobi, they added.
Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko temporarily allowed the defendants their requested representation and scheduled an arraignment and detention hearing for July 1. Prosecutors said Ali would make her initial court appearance on Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.